UEFA delegation in Ukraine to inspect Euro 2012 preparations

The is team led by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor

A high-powered delegation from UEFA arrived in Ukraine on Monday to inspect the former Soviet republic`s preparations to co-host the Euro 2012 football championship, dpa reported. The team led by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor was scheduled to tour three of the four Ukrainian cities set to be game sites, and two alternate game venues as well, during the four-day visit.

Euro 2012 director Martin Kallen and the tournament`s commercial director Phillipe Margraff also were members of the traveling panel.

Hryhory Surkis chairman of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) would accompany the UEFA group, according to an FFU statement.

The inspectors were planning to visit stadiums, airports, train stations, hotels, and planned fan zone sites in the primary game host cities Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv, and the alternate game host cities Kharkhiv and Odessa.

Meetings between the European inspectors and local politicians also were scheduled, the Interfax news agency reported.

Ukraine and Poland in April 2007 were named co-hosts for the upcoming European footballing championship.

Ukraine has struggled to ramp up for its share of the high-profile sports event, with delays in overhauling an existing stadium in Kiev, and beginning construction of new stadium in Lviv, among the highest-profile of Ukraine`s difficulties.

Other Ukrainian shortfalls identified by UEFA and FFU officials alike include a transportation infrastructure well below international standards, and insufficient hotels for the up to one million fans expected to attend the Euro 2012 tournament.